"43! I found Sun Jack!"
As 43 was routinely checking the surveillance, his heart skipped a beat at the sound of HopeLily's announcement, and he immediately disconnected from the system link, rushing straight to the location.
By the time he arrived, he saw the other person holding a half-eaten corpse, ravaged by nanoworms with only the upper body remaining.
He had seen Sun Jack's live stream, and was sure the corpse's face was indeed that of Sun Jack.
"My God, is Sun Jieke's original body really dead?" 43 exclaimed in surprise, leaning in for a closer look. After confirming that the corpse's facial armor had not been modified, he immediately contacted Steelheart.
"Hold on! Utopia Security's cyber division will send someone over!" Before Steelheart could say much more, 43 and his companion saw a damaged exoskeleton on the ground suddenly start moving. It shambled over with its exposed cables to Sun Jack's corpse, pulling out three data lines from behind Sun Jack's neck and inserting them into its own data port.
"This isn't the original, this is a clone," a voice issued from within the exoskeleton. "Keep searching, and inform me the moment you have any leads."
43, who had been so excited just moments ago, felt deflated upon hearing that. He never imagined that after all his hard work, it turned out to be another clone.
Just as the exoskeleton was about to log off, 43 hurried to stop it, "Wait, what's the difference between Sun Jieke's original body and the clones? How can I tell if I find one?"
"It's the memories that differ. When copying the clone consciousness, I left three marks in his memory for differentiation. You can't tell them apart, so contact me if you find one, and I'll discern," came the reply.
No sooner had the voice faded than the exoskeleton collapsed to the ground and logged off. At the same time, a ping notified 43 of a received payment.
"Hello, the transfer sent to you is incorrect: 3000 dog B. Please check your account," followed by two drones swiftly descending from the sky and taking away Sun Jack's clone.
"F*ck, what a shitty name." 43 complained while transferring 1500 dog B to HopeLily. "Just 3000 dog B for finding a clone, what a miser."
But HopeLily merely smiled, shaking her head as she spread her slender palm open to reveal an Artificial Eye, "Just secretly took it from the Sun Jack clone."
"Holy shit! A Lu Yi 4Q Artificial Eye! We struck gold!" 43 excitedly took it, inspecting the valuable item thoroughly.
He was about to put it up for sale but decided to think twice and added to the description, "Gently used by Sun Jack himself, 90% new."
As soon as he entered the price, 30,000 dog B, the item was immediately bought!
When the money hit his account, he trembled with such excitement, he was nearly over the moon! 30,000! Were virtual coins really as easy to earn as game coins?
After some thought, he picked up an old, tattered jacket from the ground and put it up for sale online, "Sun Jack's battle-worn original flavor jacket." And, incredibly, it also sold in an instant!
"This is a business opportunity, a massive business opportunity!"
Number 43 only found out after a quick search online that a group of brain-dead fans of Sun Jack had appeared on the internet. They were crazily infatuated with everything related to Sun Jack, and anything connected to Borrow King could fetch a high price in their circle.
Making money seemed too easy now, why bother looking for the original body? Buying Sun Jack merchandise would be much better!
Number 43 realized this might be an opportunity! A perfect chance to turn his life around.
The thought had barely crossed his mind when he didn't hesitate to get in touch with his contacts. Without going into detail, he simply sent them a message, "Big money, come fast!"
Before he could smoke half of the cigarette he had just lit, he saw a uniwheel motorcycle speeding towards him, accompanied by the sound of screeching brakes. And there she was, a tall woman with smudged black eyeshadow and lipstick.
Looking at her, Number 43's head began to ache—it was his sister, Number 44, with whom he had not been on speaking terms for some time.
"Ah~ my little brother, I didn't expect that you'd think of me first for such a lucrative opportunity. I'm so fucking touched," Number 44 got off the motorcycle, lifted Number 43's chin, and gave him a light kiss.
Number 43 pushed her away in disgust, "You never loved me, you just thought I was convenient to use as a vibrator when you were around! That was rape! You're a rapist!!"
"It's been so long, why hold a grudge? I was enlightening you emotionally," Number 44 said as she threw her arm around her brother, tucked him under her armpit, vigorously ruffled his hair, and greeted Hopelily nearby.
"Cut the crap!" Number 43 pushed his sister away and greeted his friends.
"Now's not the time for reminiscing. A chance to get rich has landed in our laps! Whether we'll eat shit or meat in the future depends on this! Everybody, pull out all the stops!" After Number 43 briefly explained the situation, everyone was eager to get down to business, for in Metropolis, money was everything.
In the time that followed, he and the others started looking for Sun Jack. As for whether it was the original body or not, he no longer cared.
He had prepared for Utopia Security's intervention, with the bribe money already at hand, but to his surprise, they simply reminded him that hoarding brains was strictly forbidden.
It seemed that in the interest of boosting morale, they only cared about the delivery of heads. The selling of Sun Jack merchandise was tacitly condoned.
Those specifically hunting for Sun Jack to make money were soon known by a special moniker, the Sun Collectors, and it wasn't just about finding Sun Jack; let's not forget that this was the ruins at the city center, with plenty of valuable items, not to mention the ongoing corporate warfare above.
Whatever fell from the skies above, they would swarm over it and pick it clean. Amidst the fierce battleground, they were diligent scavengers.
Around these people, vendors of food, drugs, detection and scanning equipment swarmed like flies smelling something foul. An ecosystem unique to Metropolis had formed both in the air and on the ground, a highly efficient one.
As it turned out, his decision not to go it alone was correct. He wasn't the only one who recognized the value of Sun Jack's clones, as groups of Sun Jack hunters had already appeared, looking to snatch them up. Lone wolves would only be devoured in this scenario.
"Watch out!" Number 43 had just disconnected from the network when he saw a shell flying towards them. The next second, a huge body stood in front of him—it was Number 44.
Boom! An explosion sounded, opening a grisly, flesh-torn hole in Number 44's back, revealing the mechanical innards installed inside.